Movements and Premonitions
by Mariagoner
Summary: Ten short scenes from a lifetime together. Because even when you get your happy ending, there always hitches and detours along the way. Larsa X Penelo and cast. From the The Uses of Enchantment series.
1. Chapter 1

I _will_ do my best to finish with The Uses of Enchantment by the end of the summer, oh yes I will. Consider this a statement of intent as far as that goal is concerned. ;)

In any case, this set of drabbles-- some of which are old and some of which are new-- is for **Mad Rex **overall. Because he's a sweet-heart and since he pinned the blame for much of a recent set on me, I thought I ought to return the favor. And in any case, comments and corrections are completely welcome and loved! I'm entering into the home-stretch of the series here and nothing but nothing could cheer me up more than knowing that someone out there is still reading…

**Title: Movements and Premonitions**

**Fandom: Final Fantasy XII**

**Series: The Uses of Enchantment**

**Characters/Pairings: Larsa/Penelo, Cast**

**Rating: Ranges from PG - R**

**Summary: Ten short scenes from a lifetime together. Because even when you get your happy ending, there always hitches and detours along the way.**

**I. The One Where Larsa Manages to Surprise Penelo Yet Again**

At almost 14, the top of Larsa's head doesn't quite hit Penelo's hair, though he's grown at least an inch since the last time she visited him. Still, giggling, she lets him put his arms around her at the Lady Ashe's-- no, make that Queen Ashelia's-- coronation. She lets him put his arms around her and awkwardly maneuver her about the ball room and struggle not to trample on her delicate feet with spindly legs he can't control very well as of yet.

"You're doing good for your age, y'know," she reassures him afterwards, mouth curving into a smile she tries her best to hide beneath her ridiculous fan. "I mean, when Vaan was 14, he used to be so much more of an absolute bumberklut--"

But whatever she's about to say is eclipsed by the swift lunge he makes at her, by her soft cry smothered out underneath his sudden and wholly unexpected kiss. And when she's finally recovered enough to speak, all she can see his back as he rushes away, stammering about improprieties and injustice and how he's so very sorry and until she forgives him, he'll never do it again..

If he had stayed just a little longer, she'd have told him that he was doing better than Vaan with the kissing-at-13 thing as well. But instead, she runs her fingertips across her lips and flushes and wonders what on earth _that_ precisely meant.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you so much for the reviews, everyone! Although I'm going to stop writing for this fandom very soon, it's been a great ride. And in any case, I have two of these drabbles down and eight more to go...

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**II. The One Where Poor Basch is Tormented Most Cruelly**

_The Official List of Warning Sigils and Instructions for the Emperor Solidor's Love Madness Is as Follows:_

_Blue_: Threat level low. His Majesty is actually meeting with Lady Penelo and shows little sign of doing more than sighing with bliss at her general direction. Leave the situation as is until further notice.

_Green_: Threat level guarded. His Majesty is in the aftermath of Lady Penelo's presence and shows some signs of emotional distress. Allow his assistants to schedule another meeting with her as soon as they can.

_Yellow_: Threat level elevated. His Majesty has just seen Lady Penelo leave on another adventure and is unsure of when she will return. Allow the Honorable Judge Magister Zargabaath to regale him of tales of when his own father managed to win the hand of his lady mother in order to soothe him.

_Orange_: Threat level high. His Majesty has just learned that Lady Penelo is planning to "swing by" Archades on her way elsewhere and may be succumbing to another attack of Solidor Psychopathological Distress as he plans. Get out of his way and let him do as he pleases, no matter what crises might occur under the circumstances. Remember to establish absolutely no eye contact with the man!

_Red_: Threat level _severe_! His Majesty has just learned of a new romantic prospect in Lady Penelo's love life and/or has just had another nightmare of her running off with her current partner, her current partner's former mentor, her current green grocer, her current launderer, her current shoe salesman or any other creature of reasonably hume proportions who might have passed her path in the past 24 hours. _For the love of god,_ call Judge Magister Gabranth-- and _only _Judge Magister Gabranth-- in to handle the situation. Repeat: _for the love of god_…


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for all the kind reviews for the previous part of this! I'm really glad everyone enjoyed that last part since it really was one of my own personal favorites. And in any case, please spare a review if you like this so far. Understanding what people like and don't like about my writing is alway a great help to me.

Anyway... three ficlets down and seven more to go. ::plots patiently::

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**III. The One Where Penelo Feels Terrible About Wanting to Rob a Cradle Till It Has Nothing Left**

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There was probably a word for women like her, for women who found themselves bizarrely attracted to people four years younger when they had just hit twenty themselves. And that word was probably deranged. As well as _creepy, bizarre, terrifying and mad beyond the point of any possible redemption._

It was not that she wanted to fit into any of those categories, mind. In fact, she'd verbally bitch slapped her sorry excuse for a cerebral cortex many, many times for making her feel the way she did right now. God knows she'd gone out of her way to keep her involvement with said person who was four years younger than herself as sedate and friendly as possible, up to and including enlisting the increasingly bemused Vaan and the increasingly woe-begotten Basch's help as escorts and chaperones. And she truly did know how... bizarre it was to be attracted to attracted to someone she had known since he had been all of twelve, to have day-dreams about someone she had once seen run around in tights and cherry-red heels, to want to kiss someone who she had first met before his voice had even deepened fully.

Really, it shouldn't even matter how nicely Larsa seemed to be growing, or how solicitous he was whenever she visited, or how amazingly mature he seemed next to almost all of the other men who seemed to flock around her. (Vaan, especially, was of no help here.) Not being attracted to the sixteen year old Emperor of Archadia should have been easy enough here. After all, was she or wasn't she a woman of the world? Did she or didn't she experience her own share of wild and exotic adventures? Had she or hadn't she entertained her fair share of lovers most willing and able in her bed over the years?

Really, in the face of all that, what in the world could a mere teenager-- blue blooded or not-- offer her here?

But he wasn't going to be a teenager forever... and even as Larsa leaned forward to take her hand in his startlingly smooth one and enquire as to when she would come visit his throne next, Penelo had to fight down the urge to tremble like a little giza rabbit caught in the crosshairs of a werewolf.

For some reason, she had a feeling that even if _she _could will her feelings away, Larsa wasn't about to let her end this so easily.


End file.
